8 Things That Would Happen If We Made Alien Contact

8. First Contact Protocol

Yes, there is actually an official protocol in place for alien contact. Yet more proof, if any were needed, that science is definitely the coolest subject. The procedure makes the fairly reasonable assumption that alien first contact would be made through one of our radio telescopes. We're always picking up blips and bloops from space with those things, so it's pretty reasonable to think that we'd also pick up a signal from a passing alien. In the event of picking up a signal that we think indicates that we're not alone, the person who detects it should immediately get in touch with SETI who will attempt to verify the signal by eliminating all other possible sources. Once verified, the person who originally detected the signal gets first dibs on the privilege of announcing it to the press (although the details would be kept back to prevent just anyone sending a message). Then we have the issue of how to respond. The likelihood is that we'd fire off a simple string of binary, just to indicate that there's a thinking species down here. After this hailing signal has been sent and received, we then need to come to terms with the idea that we're no longer alone in the universe and that is a whole other kettle of fish.